The Premier League announced on Tuesday that it will begin publishing weekly reports this season from its independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, which reviews decisions taken by on-field referees and the VAR, in a drive to increase transparency.
Established during the 2022-23 season, the five-member body assesses and votes on all significant refereeing judgments throughout the top flight. While results were routinely passed to clubs and referees, the complete verdicts had been kept private prior to last season.
The league explained that the decision aims to guarantee “full transparency around the evaluations of the decisions made by match officials.”
The Premier League explained that “the primary purpose of the KMI Panel is to assess critical Premier League match incidents, such as penalties, red cards, offside decisions, and other situations that fall under the referee’s jurisdiction.
“Each decision by Match Officials is adjudged to be correct or incorrect in the opinion of the panel, made up of three former players or coaches, alongside a representative from each of the Premier League and Pro Ref.”
This is one of three changes to be made with regards to VAR and referees for the new Premier League season.
Additionally, direct quotes between pitch officials and the VAR during major incidents will be published on the Premier League Match Centre social media account this season, complemented by in-game audio from referee body cameras during chosen fixtures.
“Alongside the professional referees’ body, the Premier League will also continue to lobby football’s lawmakers IFAB to allow more communications from the Match Officials to be broadcast in-game,” the league added.
The final change will see fans able to hear in-game audio from the Ref Cam. Last season, in-game video clips were broadcast live, and this has now been expanded to audio clips.
The league confirmed that audio clips will “only be used in games using Ref Cam – which is approximately 1-2 games per match round – and only for selected incidents. This will not include live or in-game audio from the VAR, in line with the restrictions defined by IFAB.”
The 2026-27 Premier League season kicks off on Friday, with defending champions Arsenal hosting newly promoted Coventry City.
